He wrote: “We are a better people than what these laws represent, and it is time to discard them into the ash heap of history.”

Possibly due to the state’s three-day waiting period, reports came in from across the state of couples who had already filed for marriage licences. Some counties reported more than ten same-sex couples filing for marriage licences.

Some queued from the early hours to get their licence, and the first weddings are set to take place this weekend.

The state’s attorney general Kathleen G. Kane, who did not defend the ban, said: “Today, in Pennsylvania, the Constitution prevailed.

“Inequality in any form is unacceptable and it has never stood the test of time.”

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